1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a door hinge apparatus of a refrigerator capable of preventing a position of a refrigerator door from being changed by compensating the position of the refrigerator door at the time of an installation and by firmly maintaining an assembled state of the refrigerator door during an operation.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, a refrigerator stores food item such as meat, fish, vegetable, fruit, beverage, etc. as a fresh state. The refrigerator comprises a freezing chamber, a cooling chamber, a body having a vegetable chamber, etc., and a door mounted at one side of the body for opening and closing the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber.
The body comprises a refrigerating cycle system composed of a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, an evaporator, etc., a blowing fan for forcibly flowing cold air formed by the evaporator, and a circulation channel for guiding the cold air formed by the evaporator to be introduced into the evaporator via the freezing chamber, the cooling chamber, etc.
In the refrigerator, when a temperature of the freezing chamber or the cooling chamber becomes more than a preset temperature, the refrigerating cycle system is operated. As the refrigerating cycle system is operated, the evaporator forms cold air and the cold air circulates through the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber by the blowing fan. As the cold air circulates through the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber, temperatures of the freezing chamber, the cooling chamber, and the vegetable chamber are maintained as preset temperatures.
The refrigerator is classified as various types according to a method for circulating cold air, positions of a freezing chamber and a cooling chamber, and a construction of an evaporator.
For example, the refrigerator includes a refrigerator in which a freezing chamber is positioned at an upper side of a cooling chamber, a refrigerator in which a freezing chamber and a cooling chamber are positioned side by side, and a refrigerator in which a freezing chamber is positioned at a lower side of a cooling chamber.
In order to store food item inside the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber more longer with a fresh state, the temperatures of the cooling chamber and the freezing chamber have to be maintained as preset temperatures. Also, in order to maintain the temperatures of the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber, cold air of the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber is prevented from being leaked to outside.
The greatest reason why the cool air of the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber is leaked outwardly is due to a gap between the body and the door mounted at the body. Generally, a refrigerator door is mounted at one side of a refrigerator body by a hinge apparatus, and a leakage amount of cold air of a freezing chamber and a cooling chamber is determined according to a coupling structure between the refrigerator door and the hinge apparatus.
If cold air is much leaked from the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber, food item stored in the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber can not be maintained as a fresh state and a lot of driving time is required to maintain preset temperatures of the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber thereby to increase power consumption. Accordingly, it is an important technical task to couple the refrigerator door to the refrigerator body in order to minimize the gap between the refrigerator body and the refrigerator door.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a hinge apparatus coupled between a refrigerator door and a refrigerator body in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown, a hinge apparatus 300 is respectively mounted to upper and lower portions of a refrigerator body 100 having a cooling chamber (R) therein, and upper and lower portions of a door 200 are respectively coupled to the hinge apparatuses 300.
As shown in FIG. 2, the hinge apparatus comprises a hinge body 310 curved as a certain shape and having a plurality of holes 311, and a hinge shaft 320 coupled to the hinge body 310.
The hinge body 310 is curved as a vertical shape. One end of the hinge shaft 320 is caulked under a state that the hinge shaft 320 is fitted into a caulking hole (not shown) formed at one side of the hinge body 310, thereby coupling the hinge shaft 320 to the hinge body 310. The hinge shaft 320 is vertically positioned on one surface of the hinge body 310.
In the hinge apparatus 300 mounted at the upper portion of the body 100, the hinge body 310 is coupled to the refrigerator body 100 so that the hinge shaft 320 can be towards a lower direction, and the hinge body 310 is fixed by a plurality of screws (not shown).
In the hinge apparatus 300 mounted at the lower portion of the body 100, the hinge body 310 is coupled to the refrigerator body 100 so that the hinge shaft 320 can be towards an upper direction, and the hinge body 310 is fixed by a plurality of screws (not shown).
A hinge hole 201 for inserting the hinge shaft 320 is respectively formed at upper and lower surfaces of the refrigerator door 200 in the same direction.
The hinge shaft 320 of the upper hinge apparatus is inserted into the upper hinge hole 201 of the door 200, and the hinge shaft 320 of the lower hinge apparatus is inserted into the lower hinge hole 201 of the door 200. The door 200 opens and closes the cooling chamber R by making the upper and lower hinge apparatuses 300 as a shaft.
An unexplained reference numeral 400 denotes a drawer.
However, in the conventional hinge apparatus, the hinge shaft 320 is fixedly coupled to the hinge body 310 by a caulking thereby to generate an installation error or an assembly error of the hinge apparatus 300. Accordingly, when the door 200 is not precisely positioned for the body 100 in upper and lower directions, it is hard to compensate the position of the door 200 and thereby cold air of the cooling chamber R is leaked.
In order to solve the above problem, a screw thread is formed at one side of the hinge shaft 320 of the hinge apparatus, and a screw hole is respectively formed at the hinge body 310. Accordingly, the screw thread of the hinge shaft 320 can be coupled to the screw hole of the hinge body 310, and the height of the hinge shaft 320 can be controlled by rotating the hinge shaft 320.
However, in the conventional hinge apparatus, when the refrigerator door 200 is continuously opened and closed, a relative rotation force is generated between the hinge shaft 320 of the hinge body 310 and the refrigerator door 200 by a rotation of the refrigerator door 200 thereby to move the hinge shaft 320 up and down. Accordingly, the refrigerator door 200 is not smoothly operated and a gap is generated between the refrigerator body 100 and the refrigerator door 200 thereby to cause a leakage of cold air.